Imagine
SWIMMINGin a
bottle of aged wine. This is how walking into R.J. Julia Booksellers feels – warm
and fragrant, full of body. Conceived by Roxanne Coady and built in 1990
in the architectural tradition of an old-style Philadelphia bookstore,
R.J.'s interior is decorated in red mahogany bookcases, stained hardwood
floors, and walls dressed in pale wallpapers and hunter green paint.

Outside R.J.'s stretches the
community of Madison, Connecticut, population 24,332. Area towns are
steeped in New England history and sprinkled with homes dating from the
1600s. Yale University makes its home twenty miles to the west in New
Haven. To the east lies Mystic Seaport & Museum, a major port during
colonial times and the exterior filming location of Stephen Spielberg's
film, Amistad.

Three years before opening the
bookstore, Roxanne was the first woman to earn the title of National Tax
Director for BDO Seidman, LLP, a leading tax consulting and financial
services firm. In 1998, she appeared on the cover of Money Magazine
in honor of her professional accomplishments. But Roxanne's love of books
defined a new chapter in her life after she departed the fast-paced
corporate life.

"We take
great pride in the type of bookstore we are and have learned from [our
customers that] our old-world style matters," Roxanne said in the monthly
newsletter The R.J. Julia Review. "Yet we all live in a world that
seems to be in high speed, overwhelming us with choice, leaving us with
scarcity of time."

Time is abundant in this clean, well-lighted
place off the main street. Here readers can escape the bustling world and
browse in the company of fellow readers. Chairs tucked into corners
silently summon browsers to leaf through books in comfort. Like the stars
on the famed Hollywood Boulevard sidewalks, the dark wooden floors sport
the signatures of authors in gold-colored paint: Virginia Woolf, G. Bernard
Shaw, Robert Burns. On the walls are quotes from authors: "A good book is
never exhausted. It goes on whispering to you from the wall, and Cicero:

"A room without books is like a body without a soul."

Monthly events include children's Story Time, Murder Mystery Night for
singles, poetry slams, and the Summer Olympic Reading Program for kids. On
the second floor, writers meet monthly to share manuscripts and marketing
tips. Sebastian Junger, Gloria Steinem, Frank McCort, and Ann Rice have
all visited R.J.'s to sign their books and help spread passion for the
written word.

Capitalizing upon its successes, six years ago
R.J.'s expanded into an adjacent building and doubled the number of its
children's and how-to book titles. The former children's department is now
Nancy's Coffee Café. Each noon and evening,
the café fills with the sound and aroma of frothed milk turned into
cappuccinos and lattés. Over coffee and deserts, café patrons discuss how
coffee has become an American tradition, akin to the British and their
afternoon tea. "Coffee and books," said Steve Lee of Guilford, a customer
seated before the tall, mullioned bay window of sparkling clean panes, "is
a class thing, like an Irish Pub offering warm Guinness, darts and
conversation." ♦